Transistor Museum Early Germanium Power Transistor History by Joe Knight BTL Western Electric Page 25

A SURVEY OF EARLY POWER TRANSISTORS

by Joe Knight

THE POWER TRANSISTOR

BELL TELEPHONE LABS AND WESTERN ELECTRIC

By 1959 Western Electric had developed the WE GA-53678, a military/government agency NPN Silicon Triple-Diffused Power Transistor. It was more general purpose in design with only a few watts of dissipation. Another similar version was the WE GF-40065. Both are shown above. As can be seen in the cut-open sample above, these too share the typical small square diffusion-built wafer that can function at true uhf speeds.

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Joe Knight Early Power Transistor History – BTL/WESTERN ELECTRIC Page 25